Egg nog creme brûlée...final product

I thought I'd post the final product.   They tasted great by the way; the oops of omitting the milk had no affect on the delicious result.  

We put a light layer of white sugar on the chilled creme brûlées and then Jeff torched them right before they were to be served.  

I decorated them with some whipped cream, black berries, mint and some carmalized sugar candy  I made.

The guests really appreciated the special touches of the meal.  

Aubrey certainly enjoyed the final product! 

Egg Nog Creme Brûlée

Happy Friday everyone!  Wow that week felt longer than usual.  I am excited to have a few days off before the busyness of the New Year at work begins.

 

I'm helping my mom with a party she's hosting tomorrow at her house; I'm in charge of making 12 crème brulees. 

 

I've heard that this can be very intimidating but its actually very easy.  It's basically three ingredients; cream, egg yolks and sugar.  Unlimited variations can be made to really change the flavour profile of this classic French dessert.

 

This is the recipe I followed:

 

First I had to separate my egg yolks and whites.  I wanted to save the whites as I can use these in the next week for something; omelette, cookies, pavlova etc.

 

I doubled the above recipe so I used 10 egg yolks.  To this is added half of the sugar (1/3cup) and whisked it up until it was a pale yellow.

 

 

At this stage I set the egg yolks aside.

 

 

 

In a sauce pan I put half the sugar (1/3cup) and the 1 1/2 cup whipping cream and 1 1/3 cup of egg nogg.  At this very moment as I type this I realized I forgot the milk!  Oh my word; can we say baby brain?!?!!?  Traditionally there isn't any milk in crème brulee however it is a good idea to stretch your custard and for it to not be so rich.  In this case my brulees will be VERY rich; delicious!  I may be heading upstairs in a few  minutes to start again! We'll see!

I added a pinch of nutmeg; fresh would be best but I used what I had.

Couldn't resist!

 

I got my ramekins all ready.  I have them in baking dishes that can fit in the oven.

 

Once this simmers; just before it boils, I whisk a few ladles full into my egg yoke sugar mixture.  This is called tempering your eggs.

 

Once the eggs are tempered you add that back into the remainder of the hot cream and milk.  I continued to whisk and stir to avoid cooking my eggs.

 

To just be sure; I also strain my custard mixture to make sure its silky smooth.

I filled my ramekins and then filled the baking dish with water to be half way up the sides of the ramekins.  This is called a water bath.  This gentle steam-cooks the custards.   I fill mine on the counter and then I gingerly put my baking dishes in the oven.  Some people pull their oven rack out and fill this with the oven door open but pushing the rack back in is sometimes worse then trying to get them off the counter and into the oven without spilling; you'll have to find what you find easier.

 

I baked these at 300F for exactly 35 minutes

 

Remove them from the water bath and let cool for 1/2 hour before putting them in the fridge to chill.  These need to be cold1

 

I used my canning tool to get them out of the hot water....brilliant!  I usually burn my fingers!

Tomorrow I will dust with white sugar and then lightly burn with my blow torch right before serving.  Simple simple; any guest is sure to be impressed.  Jeff and I don't quite understand why people go bananas over these  but they do. 

Shrimp stir fry...homemade sauce.

The rice cooker:

 

I first became introduced to the rice cooker while living in Thailand with the Dewits.  It was amazing to me that just about every Thai home had a rice cooker; like it was mandatory.  I had never even seen one nor had I used one.  Given how easy it was to use; the rice cooker was one of my first purchases as a married lady. 

 

I really appreciate that you can set the rice cooker to cook and then you can just leave it warming.  It is literally a set it and forget it appliance.  I put my rice on hours before I need it; just to get it out of the way.

 

 

The Sauce:

I have been known to buy a pre made sauce for stir fry; usually when there is a sale.  However buying key ingredients to have on hand to make different renditions of a sauce is a very cost effective and creative way to go about it.

 

For this specific sauce I decided to add orange zest, flesh of the whole orange, grated ginger, garlic, saracha, hoisin, coconut milk, soya sauce, peanut butter and water. 

I used the immersion blender to make a smooth sauce.

 

The assembly:

I had pre-cut all of my veggies; mushrooms, red pepper, green onion, broccoli, carrot, celery and onions.

I sautéed to shrimp slightly; and set them aside.

With my wok very hot I started to sautee the veggies.  I had strategically placed the carrots, onions and celery on top of my veggie bowl as they take longer.

I added a bit of sauce to this.

Once I felt they were par-cooked I added the rest of the veggies and additional sauce.

 

Once this was almost cooked I added the shrimp back in and put the lid on to cook the shrimp all the way through.

 

 

 

At this point I called Jeff and Aubrey to the table; and gave Aubrey her cooled bowl of stir fry and rice.  From the kitchen I hear, "Mom look what I did; I love soya sauce"...I ran into the dining room and there she was with her "soya sauce soup".  No harm done!

We had a good laugh over it!  I re-bowled up her dish and we ended up using her "soup" as our communal sauce bowl!  Serves me right for having my industrial sized soya sauce container on the table!

 

Well the stir fry ended up being a hit; I was given a "great job hun!". 

We think this was the first time Aubrey ate shrimp and enjoyed it.  I definitely encourage parents to have their kids try things a few times.  In cooking school they encouraged us to try something three times before deciding we don't like it; you may not have had it cooked properly or may enjoy a variation of a specific ingredient.  We discovered tonight that Aubrey does not like cooked mushrooms even though she LOVES them raw; as long as she gave it a try we're fine with that.

 

Happy New Year...Nachos

I can't believe 2013 has now come to a close.  This year has had much excitement, a few disappointments but most of all has been a great year of growth.  We have first hand witnessed Gods love and faithfulness.  As a family we are very excited for what 2014 has in store for us; we are waiting with great anticipation for our baby boy to arrive this Spring.  

To close the year off I invited my family over for a low key evening.  Our New Years celebration ended officially around 8:30pm...that's my kind of party.

The menu consisted of nachos and taco salad.  My sister kindly brought over a large package of extra lean ground beef and I chopped up all the garnish; red pepper, onion, scallions, and cilantro.  I sautéed up the beef and after I drained off the excess fat I added in my garnish and some taco seasoning packs, chili powder and S&P.  

Once this was made I set aside enough for dinner and packed up a few ziploc bags for the freezer.  These will be handy for tacos, nachos, pasta sauce, chilli etc.  This trick of having seasoned cooked packages of beef in the freezer is probably one of the best cooking tricks I learned this past year.  This is so helpful for that last minute dinner or late night snack!

I bowled up chopped lettuce, shredded cheese, jalepenos, black olives (especially for jan), sour cream/Greek yogurt, salsa and guacamole. 

I baked these at 375F for 15 minutes.  The thicker the layers of nachos the longer it would need.

The nachos were enjoyed by all!  I even made a platter for Jeff when he got home from work; he enjoyed these with the taped jets game.  

Well, Happy New Year to all my blog readers!  I hope to bring you many more new recipes and helpful tips in 2014!